The hacking scandal has provoked the biggest witchhunt for many a year.
Rupert Murdoch, the News of the World, News International, the police, Sky, David Cameron are all being burned at the stake.
The News of the World are clearly guilty of doing dodgy deals with private investigators and the police. Those deals may have brought them stories no one else knew about - the exclusives Sunday papers need because no ordinary news happens on Saturdays - but if they had stopped to think, they would have realised that it would look bad for them if those deals were ever revealed.
But no newspapers stop to think. They all focus on the next publication. Anything further ahead will be tackled when it arrives. Anything which happened yesterday or further back is forgotten, unless a writ turns up. There is no forward planning, no ‘where do we want to be in six months, a year, five years’. It’s all about tomorrow’s paper.
Newspaper managers ought to think a bit about the future, but they spend too much time fire-fighting what the flaming journalists insist on doing today, whatever the cost, and what they did yesterday which five lawyers want to sue them about. It is more difficult than running an insurance company and requires managers who know how to balance the freedom journalists want with the restrictions the law places on companies.
The police are clearly guilty of not investigating the dodgy deals done by the private investigators and by their own officers. They never have been good at sorting out their own mess. Senior management at fault again.
David Cameron is guilty of not checking out the skeletons in Andy Coulson’s past before hiring him to look after the Government’s skeletons.
Rupert Murdoch is guilty of not separating his businesses well enough and not separating himself from the picture well enough. Murdoch has been the devil to the Left since the Wapping battles over his British newspapers. He is the devil to many American liberals because of Fox News. He has not raided the pension fund as Robert Maxwell did, or upset the shareholders as Conrad Black did. All he has done is be a very good businessman.
Labour MPs are now demanding that he should not be allowed to buy complete control of BSkyB because of the dodgy deals done by the News of the World.
The News of the World is part of News International. BSkyB is a separate company. Different managements. Different corporate ethos. No one has suggested that Sky News has done anything wrong.
The only link between the companies is Rupert Murdoch.
He must make sure that a problem in one newspaper does not infect the whole business.
One final thought. The Guardian has been investigating this story for many months. Who is it getting its information from?
Rupert Murdoch, the News of the World, News International, the police, Sky, David Cameron are all being burned at the stake.
The News of the World are clearly guilty of doing dodgy deals with private investigators and the police. Those deals may have brought them stories no one else knew about - the exclusives Sunday papers need because no ordinary news happens on Saturdays - but if they had stopped to think, they would have realised that it would look bad for them if those deals were ever revealed.
But no newspapers stop to think. They all focus on the next publication. Anything further ahead will be tackled when it arrives. Anything which happened yesterday or further back is forgotten, unless a writ turns up. There is no forward planning, no ‘where do we want to be in six months, a year, five years’. It’s all about tomorrow’s paper.
Newspaper managers ought to think a bit about the future, but they spend too much time fire-fighting what the flaming journalists insist on doing today, whatever the cost, and what they did yesterday which five lawyers want to sue them about. It is more difficult than running an insurance company and requires managers who know how to balance the freedom journalists want with the restrictions the law places on companies.
The police are clearly guilty of not investigating the dodgy deals done by the private investigators and by their own officers. They never have been good at sorting out their own mess. Senior management at fault again.
David Cameron is guilty of not checking out the skeletons in Andy Coulson’s past before hiring him to look after the Government’s skeletons.
Rupert Murdoch is guilty of not separating his businesses well enough and not separating himself from the picture well enough. Murdoch has been the devil to the Left since the Wapping battles over his British newspapers. He is the devil to many American liberals because of Fox News. He has not raided the pension fund as Robert Maxwell did, or upset the shareholders as Conrad Black did. All he has done is be a very good businessman.
Labour MPs are now demanding that he should not be allowed to buy complete control of BSkyB because of the dodgy deals done by the News of the World.
The News of the World is part of News International. BSkyB is a separate company. Different managements. Different corporate ethos. No one has suggested that Sky News has done anything wrong.
The only link between the companies is Rupert Murdoch.
He must make sure that a problem in one newspaper does not infect the whole business.
One final thought. The Guardian has been investigating this story for many months. Who is it getting its information from?
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